Aizawl, Sept. 25 -- A public health entomologist from the Health & Family Welfare Department's Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) has raised an alarm over the growing spread of scrub typhus across Mizoram, which is now reaching endemic proportions.
Since 2012, government healthcare facilities alone have recorded 913 confirmed cases of scrub typhus, with 34 deaths.
The entomologist has further warned that the actual number of cases could be nearly double if private healthcare facility data were included.
The first cases of scrub typhus were identified in Mizoram during the gregarious flowering of the 'Mautak' (Melocanna baccifera) bamboo species between 2006 and 2008, which led to a dramatic increase in the rodent population...